


change can be painful (but sometimes it's better than the alternative)

by TheTartWitch



Category: Grimm (TV)
Genre: Gen, character study I guess, eight dead girls, hank is okay with that and it worries him, interrogation of a suspect, nick gets rough
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-25
Updated: 2018-11-25
Packaged: 2019-08-29 02:43:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 550
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16735560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheTartWitch/pseuds/TheTartWitch
Summary: Where the hell did Good Cop, Bad Cop go? Now they’re Crazy Cop and Cop Who Enables The Crazy.





	change can be painful (but sometimes it's better than the alternative)

He watches Nick shove the kidnapper of eight teenage girls into the wall. He doesn’t look away; he’s used to their routine by now. Nick goes Crazy Grimm, Hank pretends to placate him, push him out of the room, and then goes Gentle But Still Dangerous on the suspect. The wall slam is their signal: Hank’s already waited too long. The suspect is turning blue, clawing - literally - at Nick’s hands. Nick has this strange, gleefully sadistic look on his face. Sometimes Hank’s not sure he’d stop if Hank didn’t make him. Sometimes, as in this case, Hank’s not sure he wants to stop him. Some people, human or wesen, don’t deserve the air inside their lungs. 

But Hank doesn’t get to make that choice, and neither does Nick. People are people, and Nick needs something sane to keep him rooted here and Hank had decided a long time ago that that was going to be him. He’s not losing Nick for someone like this. He’d seen Nick’s mother, wild-eyed and frizzy-haired, unable to communicate with people or restrain herself from violence in any sort of situation. He’d seen Nick the night he lost control after his almost-kidnapping and zombification. 

He has to step in.

“Nick, I think you should take a breather out in the hall for a second.” He tugs at Nick’s elbows. Nick lets go with one last deranged stare into the suspect’s eyes before letting Hank shove him gently out the open door. As it closes he can hear the suspect coughing quietly behind him. When he looks, there are small bruises in the hollows of the man’s throat. Hank’s not sympathetic. The man’s victims had worse. Nick could have done worse.

Nick  _ has  _ done worse to people like this.

“He could have killed me!” Cries the man, clutching at his throat and sobbing theatrically. Hank looks away to hide the rolling of his eyes. He pulls the chair out and sits, gesturing for the suspect to do the same.

“I’m sure that was very new for you.” He drawls, letting the man quake in his boots for a second, still reeling from the full impact of Nick’s patented Murder Face. “But I’m also sure those eight girls you killed felt pretty damn scared too.” The man just stares at him. Some people don’t know how to adjust to a situation like this, where the power has been taken from them. Especially people like this, who do bad things to take the power from others. “So,” he says quietly, as though he’s confiding in this man, “I suggest you start talking before Nick decides he’s done listening to me and comes back in here.”

The man stares at him, eyes wide and hands shaking just a little against his throat. After a moment, he shuffles forward to sit hesitantly in the offered seat. After another slight pause, he opens his mouth to speak. Hank can practically taste Nick’s satisfaction from behind the glass. He despairs for their old routine. Where the hell did Good Cop, Bad Cop go? Now they’re Crazy Cop and Cop Who Enables The Crazy. 

Nick’s definitely changed because of this Grimm business. What worries Hank is that he’s definitely also changed, and he didn’t notice the changes until it was already too late.

**Author's Note:**

> Hank's attitude about Nick just really intrigues me okay???


End file.
